Jáchym Hájek
Jáchym Maxmilián Hájek (May 28, 1917 - April 24, 2009) was a Czech soldier who served in the Czechoslovak Army as well as the Czechoslovak forces in exile during and after World War II. Early life and family Hájek was born in the village of Kovač in the Hradec Králové region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was mostly Czech, but was of some German and Slovak descent as well. His father Mikoláš was a Czech nationalist and an advocate for a new brand of Hussitism. Both of his parents were schoolteachers. In 1936, Hájek, facing few other career prospects, enlisted in the army. Military service World War II In the Czechoslovak Army, Hájek was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 68th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Division "Mácha", based in Plzeň-Doubravka. He underwent reserve officer training while enlisted and rose through the ranks to lieutenant, commanding a platoon in his unit by early 1938. The Sudetenland, an area of Czechoslovakia populated by ethnic Germans, was under the control of certain parties who demanded autonomy. Nazi Germany wished to annex the region, and the western Allied powers demanded that Czechoslovakia acceed. The Czechoslovak government refused, and in May 1938 the army was mobilized. Lieutenant Hájek and his unit were called out to defend the border and prepared to fight the Germans, and in September were involved in deterring terrorist attacks from the Sudetendeutsches Freikorps (Sudeten German Free Corps) throughout September. However, instead of military action, the Czechs were forced by the Munich Agreement to cede the Sudetenland to Germany. Hájek and his men left the region, which was subsequently occupied by the Germans in October. Germany, not content with the Sudetenland, invaded the whole of Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1939. The army was again ready to fight, but was once again stood down. Lieutenant Hájek and his men were disarmed by the Germans, and the army was dissolved. With Czechoslovakia now annexed by Germany, Hájek fled south with a large group of Czech and Slovak expatriates through Romania and the Balkans, ending up in French-controlled Beirut, Lebanon. There, they waited to join the Czechoslovak forces in France. The French surrender to Germany in June 1940 and the evacuation of the Czechoslovak force made this impossible. Further complicating the situation was the fact that Lebanon was now under the control of Vichy France, which meant that the French authorities would hand them over to the Germans if they were caught. The Czechs escaped to British-controlled Jerusalem, and were allowed passage to Mandatory Palestine by the Czechoslovak consulate. The original intent was to transport the Czechs to Britain, but as this became impractical, the plan shifted to create a Czechoslovak contingent which would operate in the middle east under British command. The unit, now called the 11th Czechoslovak Infantry Battalion, was transferred to Egypt where it was trained and equipped by the British. Lieutenant Hájek was appointed as a platoon officer in the new battalion. After a period of guard duty, the 11th Battalion was placed in the British 23rd Infantry Brigade of the 6th Infantry Division. In June 1941 the 6th Division was selected to take part in Operation Exporter, the Allied invasion of Vichy Syria and Lebanon. Lieutenant Hájek and his men fought several skirmishes against the French, until the enemy forces capitulated in July. Following the campaign's conclusion, Hájek and the 11th Battalion guarded the border between Syria and Turkey. In August, the Czechoslovak government in exile requested for the battalion to be transported to Britain. The British refused, and the Czechs were sent to Lybia to reinforce the Polish Independent Highland Infantry Brigade, under heavy Axis attack in the Siege of Tobruk. Hájek's men fought back German and Italian attacks for months as a part of the 38th Indian Infantry Brigade until, in March 1942, they were relieved by British forces and sent back to Palestine. In Haifa, the battalion was reorganized as the 200th Czechoslovak Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, part of the 4th Anti-Aircraft Brigade. Hájek commanded a platoon in the 1st Company, 500th Battalion. In December, the regiment was transferred to the British 17th Infantry Brigade, and saw numerous postings around the middle east. In July 1943, the Czechs were finally transferred to Britain. Arriving in August, the AA regiment was integrated into the 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade, which was established in September. Noticing his skills as an infantry officer, the Czech commanders promoted Hájek to captain and gave him command of the 1st Company, 1st Czechoslovak Motorized Infantry Battalion. The brigade trained in Britain throughout 1943 and 1944, until it was ordered to join the Allied forces in Normandy in August. Captain Hájek and his men landed in France the same month, and joined up with British and Canadian forces at Falaise. In October, the 1st Brigade advanced to the port city of Dunkirk, which, though it had been cut off, still refused to surrender. The brigade soon took over the Siege of Dunkirk, and Hájek's men fought many battles with the German garrison of the port throughout 1944. During this time, the Czechs were augmented by locally-raised Free French units. Captain Hájek led multiple small-scale assaults and raids against the Germans, and his unit acquitted itself well in various attacks and counterattacks on the eastern flank of the siege in November. The situation deteriorated during the winter, but the Germans still showed no signs of giving up. The brigade was able to whittle away the German defenses, but were relegated to limited attacks as the port still proved too strong to be taken in a single push. In April 1945, a German counterattack pushed Hájek's men from their positions, and they fought hard to retake them. By April, American forces had reached Czechoslovakia, and a small unit from the 1st Brigade was organized to be sent into the newly-liberated parts of the country. Captain Hájek was selected as the force's second in command, and the unit embarked on a journey from Dunkirk to the Czech border. Hájek and his men crossed over in May and liberated the town of Cheb on the same day. On May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. The day after, Captain Hájek and the Czech soldiers entered Prague, where they were united with the Czech units of the Red Army. The German garrison of Dunkirk surrendered shortly after as well, bringing the entire 1st Brigade to Prague a few weeks later. Coup d'état and resignation After the war, Captain Hájek joined the new Czechoslovak Army. He took part in the forcible eviction of ethnic Germans from the border areas, as well as various duties helping with the local economy. With the liberation of Czechoslovakia, the prewar government was returned to power. However, the Communist party was in a very favorable position due to Soviet presence. Having done very well in the elections, the party began to infiltrate the government and the police service. In February 1948, protests broke out across the country. In just four days, the Communists had succeeded in taking control of the government and turning Czechoslovakia into a one-party totalitarian dictatorship. Rather than be purged from the military by the Communists, Captain Jáchym Maxmilián Hájek resigned from the Czechoslovak Army in protest on February 25, 1948. He fled the country the next day. Later life Hájek and his fiancée, Angelika Viera Holečeková fled to Britain, where they resided in Southwark in London from 1948 until 1990. In 1949, they were married. In 1990, the two of them returned to Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution transformed Czechoslovakia into a democratic state. They lived in Řeporyje in Prague from 1990 onwards. On April 24, 2009, Jáchym Maxmilián Hájek passed away. He was buried in the historic Olšany cemetery in Prague. Views Hájek was an avowed member and supported of the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party (not in any way connected with the German Nazi Party) both before and after World War II. He was stunned and angered by his government's decision not to fight the Nazi invasions in 1938 and 1939. After the war, he was supportive of the expulsion of Germans and Hungarians as he believed them to be fascist traitors partially responsible for Czechoslovakia's suffering during the occupation. He was also firmly anti-Communist, although he did not vocalize this until after his resignation. While in London, he supported the efforts of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia. In 1968, he spoke out strongly against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. He was against the dissolution of the country in 1993, but recognized it as somewhat inevitable. In his father's tradition, Hájek continued to be a practicing Protestant of Hussite-inspired denomination. Equipment While in the Czechoslovak Army before the start of the war, Hájek used the Czech Vz. 24 Mauser-type bolt-action rifle and knife bayonet, as well as the Vz. 24 semi-automatic pistol and the RG-43 fragmentation grenade. While under British command in the middle east and France, Hájek used the Lee Enfield No.1 Mk.III* rifle and its No.4 Mk.II bayonet as well as the Mills No. 36M Mk.I fragmentation grenade.Category:Soldiers in World War II Category:Czechoslovak soldiers Category:Czech soldiers